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Broadcom did not announce that it was remotely shutting down every perpetual VMware installation. In letters reportedly sent to some customers after Support and Subscription (SnS) contracts expired, Broadcom demanded that recipients stop using certain post-expiration updates, patches and other support materials. Broadcom’s own current documentation says the underlying perpetual license generally remains usable, while access to support and ordinary new releases ends with SnS.
For a recipient, the issue is therefore both contractual and operational: determine exactly what was licensed, what was installed after SnS ended, and whether a critical-security exception applies. This article explains the reported demands, what continues to work, and the evidence and financial decisions an organization should make next.
What happened in May 2025
Ars Technica reported reviewing a letter signed by Broadcom managing director Mike Brown. Network World separately summarized the report. According to the coverage, some organizations holding perpetual VMware licenses received cease-and-desist demands after their support contracts expired; reported recipients included customers of Members IT Group in Canada. Broadcom did not provide a public response to Ars Technica’s request for comment at the time.
The reporting establishes multiple recipients, not a universal campaign. It does not establish how many letters were sent, whether every country or product was covered, or that every recipient ultimately faced litigation. Treat the letter as Broadcom’s contractual and legal position, not as a court ruling.
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The reported letter said the recipients’ orders had expired and that their entitlement to support services for the listed perpetual software had ended. It reportedly demanded that customers stop using maintenance releases, updates, minor and major releases, extensions, enhancements, patches, bug fixes and security patches obtained after expiration. It also warned of possible breach, intellectual-property claims and audit or other contractual remedies.
The letter reportedly allowed an exception for certain zero-day security patches for vSphere 7.x and 8.x when VMware made them generally available at no cost and the vulnerability had a CVSS score of at least 9.0. Broadcom’s present public documentation describes a narrower, specifically documented program for supported vSphere 8.x products, so the wording of an individual letter and the current product policy should not be treated as interchangeable.
Read the contemporaneous accounts from Ars Technica, Network World and WebProNews for the reported letter language.
What the letters did—and did not—require
They did not necessarily require a complete VMware uninstall
The reported demand concerned covered updates and support materials implemented after SnS expiration. That is different from ordering a customer to remove a legally licensed ESXi or vCenter deployment altogether. Whether a particular patch, upgrade or downloaded file must be removed depends on the customer’s order forms, license agreement, SnS terms, version history and the letter’s wording.
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Installation is different from possession
Keep these events separate when reconstructing your records:
- Downloading a package from the support portal.
- Keeping an installer in an internal repository or backup.
- Installing the package on an ESXi host or vCenter Server.
- Running software that incorporates the package.
- Allowing an automated lifecycle or image pipeline to apply it.
- Applying a vendor workaround or security update.
The contract may assign different rights or obligations to each event. Do not delete evidence or uninstall a disputed update before counsel determines what is required and whether removal could create an outage or security risk.
Perpetual license versus SnS
A perpetual license generally grants continuing use of the specified software version, subject to its agreement. Broadcom’s knowledge-base article, Perpetual License Functionality After Support and Subscription (SnS) Expiration, says expiration of SnS does not itself revoke that underlying entitlement.
SnS is a separate service arrangement. Broadcom describes it as covering technical support and access to software updates, patches, security updates, and major or minor releases through the support portal. A perpetual license does not automatically grant a perpetual right to every later VMware release; that depends on the customer’s specific upgrade rights and agreement.
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What continues to work after SnS expires
For the products and configurations addressed in Broadcom’s documentation, the following generally continue to operate after SnS expiration:
- Licensed ESXi hosts.
- vCenter Server.
- Powered-on virtual machines.
- VM power operations, vMotion and snapshots.
- Features unlocked by the licensed edition, such as applicable Enterprise Plus features.
Broadcom’s statements are product- and version-specific. They should not be extended automatically to every add-on, cloud service or separately licensed component.
What becomes restricted
| Activity | General position after SnS expiration |
|---|---|
| Run already licensed software | Broadcom says this remains possible. |
| Operate existing virtual machines | Broadcom says VMs remain functional. |
| Open a normal VMware/Broadcom support case | Not available without active SnS. |
| Download ordinary new patches or security updates | Restricted through the Support Portal. |
| Download major or minor releases | Restricted without active entitlement. |
| Receive qualifying critical vSphere security patches | A limited exception may apply. |
| Upgrade to a newer major version | May require active SnS and the appropriate upgrade right. |
| Add hosts or convert licenses | May require active SnS. |
See Broadcom’s current functionality guidance for the applicable product and version.
The critical-security patch exception
Broadcom’s article Zero Day Security Patches for vSphere 8.x Perpetual License Customers with Expired Support Contracts says eligible perpetual-license customers with expired SnS can receive zero-day patches for supported vSphere 8.x products. The documented threshold is a critical-severity alert with a CVSS score of 9.0 or higher.
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- This is not a promise of all security updates.
- It applies to supported products and Broadcom’s definition of “critical.”
- The current knowledge base specifically identifies vSphere ESXi and vCenter Server 8.0.
- The reported 2025 letter referred to vSphere 7.x and 8.x, which is broader than the current vSphere 8.x article.
Confirm eligibility and delivery instructions with Broadcom before relying on the exception for a particular vulnerability.
Why recipients were confused
Ars Technica reported letters arriving shortly after support expiration, including accounts from organizations that said they had not received VMware updates after support ended. Another reported recipient had migrated to Proxmox. Managed-service providers were concerned that staff could accidentally apply a restricted package to a client environment.
These accounts do not prove a formal policy that every expired customer is contacted. They do show why automated systems and historical records matter. Review vSphere Lifecycle Manager, internal patch mirrors, configuration-management tools, gold images, disaster-recovery sites and managed-service workflows rather than assuming that no one deliberately patched means no post-expiration package was installed.
What to do if a letter arrives
This is operational guidance, not legal advice. Involve counsel and a qualified VMware licensing specialist before responding substantively, admitting unauthorized use, signing a new order or removing software.
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Preserve the evidence
- The letter and its attachments.
- Orders, purchase agreements, EULAs, SnS terms and enterprise or portfolio agreements.
- Perpetual license certificates, keys and entitlement records.
- SnS start and expiration dates for each product.
- Support-portal download and case records.
- Patch, upgrade, image-deployment and vCenter lifecycle logs.
- Records of decommissioning, migration, offline systems and disaster-recovery replicas.
- Communications with Broadcom, VMware, resellers and managed-service providers.
Build a product-by-product timeline
- List each product, edition, version and licensed host or capacity.
- Record purchase, SnS start and SnS expiration dates.
- Identify the last release or update obtained while entitlement was active.
- List every package downloaded, mirrored or installed afterward, including automated deployments.
- Mark whether a package was merely retained, actually installed, or still running.
- Assess whether a documented critical-security exception could apply.
Do not assume that all components in an estate share one expiration date.
Freeze risky changes without destroying evidence
- Pause ordinary post-expiration patching and automated lifecycle jobs.
- Prevent gold-image and disaster-recovery pipelines from copying disputed packages.
- Do not backdate, alter or delete asset and deployment records.
- Do not make written admissions before contract review.
- Do not uninstall a disputed patch until counsel and operations staff agree on the legal and safety consequences.
Choosing between staying, subscribing and migrating
| Path | When it may fit | Financial and operational trade-offs |
|---|---|---|
| Remain on the perpetual deployment without ordinary support | Stable workloads, strong compensating controls and a defined retirement or migration date. | Avoids a new subscription but increases exposure to unpatched vulnerabilities, hardware incompatibility, downtime and audit costs. |
| Buy a VMware subscription | Current support, VMware-specific integrations, newer releases or version 9 are essential. | Restores vendor access but creates recurring, quote-based costs, bundle requirements and new capacity-management rules. |
| Migrate to another platform | There is time to test alternatives and reduce VMware dependence. | May lower long-term vendor dependence but requires conversion, retraining and redesign of backup, storage, networking and disaster recovery. |
No reliable public current VMware price establishes a universal subscription cost. Obtain a dated quote based on hosts, cores, capacity, support level and required bundles.
Common alternatives
- Proxmox VE: open-source KVM virtualization with paid support subscriptions; suitable for Linux-oriented, cost-sensitive teams willing to redesign operations.
- Microsoft Hyper-V: often evaluated within Windows Server and existing Microsoft agreements; include Windows Server, guest, CAL, management and support costs.
- Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization: an enterprise subscription suited to organizations combining VM and Kubernetes operations.
- Nutanix AHV: a quote-based option generally assessed with Nutanix’s broader HCI and management stack.
Compare backup and restore, disaster recovery, storage and networking, monitoring, automation, application certification, guest operating-system licensing and staff skills—not just the hypervisor line item.
The broader licensing transition
Broadcom completed its VMware acquisition in November 2023. It subsequently ended new perpetual-license sales for the affected VMware portfolio and shifted principal offerings toward subscriptions, as described in Broadcom’s end-of-availability notice.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchVersion 9 is a separate break from the legacy model. Broadcom’s version 8-to-9 update guidance says VMware Cloud Foundation and vSphere Foundation 9 use subscription license files rather than traditional 25-character keys. The documented workflow requires an eligible subscription, a Broadcom Site ID, appropriate permissions and VCF Operations 9; license management moves to VCF Operations and the VCF Business Services console. Broadcom’s V9 licensing guide and license-key management article explain the distinction between legacy keys and V9 license files.
What remains unknown
- Broadcom has not publicly established the total number or geographic distribution of letters in the cited reporting.
- The reporting does not establish that every expired customer was contacted.
- It is not clear from the available accounts whether any recipient was sued.
- Application of the policy to products beyond the documented vSphere cases may depend on individual agreements.
- Broadcom’s current documentation may not resolve every difference between a general policy and a particular demand letter.
The Bottom Line
A perpetual VMware license and an SnS entitlement are different rights. Expired SnS generally does not switch off licensed ESXi, vCenter Server or existing VMs, but it can cut off ordinary support and post-expiration updates. If Broadcom contacts your organization, preserve the contract and technical evidence, stop risky automated changes, obtain contract-specific advice, and compare the cost of an unsupported estate with a subscription or carefully planned migration.
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